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Link courses with the neighbouring school and college enable students to spend part of the week studying at mainstream institutions. |
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THE SCHOOL
Thomas Wolsey School in Ipswich caters for pupils with physical and sensory impairment. It has 86 pupils between the ages of 3 and 19. Roughly half the pupils have a physical impairment which requires them to use a wheelchair. About half cannot see or cannot hear and do not communicate through speech. Some pupils have both physical and sensory impairments. It is the only school in Suffolk for pupils with these conditions, so the pupils come from all over the county and some of them have long journeys twice a day, sometimes leaving home as early as 7:45 am.
Generally the students achieve Entry Level awards, together with Bronze and Silver levels of the ASDAN award, but as the innovation described below reveals, they sometimes achieve good grades at GCSE. |
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THE INNOVATION
The school has established link courses at the neighbouring Thurston High School and at Suffolk College . The Thurston High School link allows Thomas Wolsey students to study for GCSEs in science and ICT using more specialist science facilities than are available at Thomas Wolsey. All Year 10 and 11 students attend the high school for one afternoon a week to work in a science laboratory, and currently two students attend ICT classes. The science co-ordinators at each school decide how the science teaching should be shared, with Thomas Wolsey concentrating on theory and Thurston High School dealing with the practical aspects. The contact between the two schools means the mainstream staff have developed their skills in working with special needs students. In addition to teaching the students at the high school, two of the high school staff teach at Thomas Wolsey for three sessions a week, and some “whole pyramid” days – the two schools are in the same pyramid of schools - are devoted to special needs, covering topics such as engaging with students who have no verbal communication.
On the college link course students spend two days a week at college and three days at school. Initially, the course was based largely on ASDAN, but it is now hoped that the range of subjects included in the course can be expanded and that some Thomas Wolsey students will be able to slot into mainstream college classes rather than being taught as a separate special needs group at the college. Several college staff have taken training courses to give them more skills in special needs education. The college course does not lead to awards or qualifications, other than ASDAN, but the value of it is that the students are able to go outside their special school and become part of the wider community. The students like the adult environment of the college and the opportunity it provides to widen their circle of friends and contacts.
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ORIGINS
Four years ago the SENCO at Thurston High School developed a close working relationship with the Science Co-ordinator at Thomas Wolsey. The SENCO was a science teacher and initially wanted Thomas Wolsey's advice on assessment and moderation for special needs students in science. In the course of the contact between the two schools, the SENCO noticed that one of the Thomas Wolsey students seemed to be capable of GCSE level work in science, perhaps of grade G standard. The student was entered for GCSE Double Science and surprised everyone by achieving grade CC. This eye-opening development prompted Thomas Wolsey to see what other students might be capable of GCSEs.
There had been a link between Thomas Wolsey and Suffolk College for a long time in the form of Year 14 students from the school being accompanied by a member of staff on taster courses at the college for one-day a week. Year 14 students are those who remain at their school to the age of 19, an entitlement specified in their statement of special educational needs. Year 13 students were aware of the college course and asked to be able to join it, so the school made the course part of the Year 13 curriculum from September 2004.
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ISSUES
The link courses have both benefits and drawbacks.
BENEFITS For the students the courses provide more involvement in the local community, a novel and stimulating learning environment with more specialist facilities, and new social opportunities. The high school and the college – both staff and students – become used to engaging with special needs students. Indeed, the very existence of a college course option was beneficial for the school students because it presented them with a choice to be made and gave them valuable practice in making decisions for themselves about an aspect of their lives.
DRAWBACKS On the other hand, the link courses are not without their difficulties. Although Thurston High School is only five-minutes' drive away from Thomas Wolsey, transporting the students in mini-buses is a lengthy process since many of the students are wheelchair-users. The college course does not have this disadvantage since the students are there for whole days. However, the college is not easily accessible for wheelchair-users. Significant timetable changes have been needed to facilitate the link courses and these have produced some problems. For example, the Thomas Wolsey Science Co-ordinator works three days a week, and none of these days coincides with the link day. The link courses also have resource implications in that school staff need to accompany the students to the school and college. This is particularly an issue for the ICT GCSE which has only two students attending the course.
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ADVICE TO COLLEAGUES IN OTHER SCHOOLS
Colleagues in other schools considering link courses need to recognise that a good deal of commitment and energy may be required, for example to overcome the apprehensions of staff in the mainstream school or college. Thomas Wolsey was fortunate in having experience of this because it has an outreach service which advises staff in mainstream schools on how to work with certain types of special needs. Good communications with the link institutions are vital. Detailed planning is important, for example to ensure that topics or assessments are not duplicated in each institution.
CONTACT DETAILS
Nancy McArdle, Headteacher
01473 467600
headteacher@thomaswolsey.com |
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